Practice golf tee and means for delivering balls thereto



Sept. 8,, 1964 H. M. GOLLAHON 3,147,980

PRACTICE GOLF TEE AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING BALLS THERETO Filed Oct. 4, 1961 e Sheets-Sheet 1 huml l lilliilnum 4 INVENTOR.

HARRY M. GOLLAHON FIG. 2

AT TORN EY 1 8, 1964 H. M. GOLLAHON 3,147,980

PRACTICE GOLF TEE AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING BALLS THERETO Filed Oct. 4Q 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 sililliii FIG. 3

INVENTOR. HARRY M. GOLLAHON ATTORNEY Sept. 8, 1964 H. M. GOLLAHON 3, 7,

PRACTICE GOLF TEE AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING BALLS THERETO Filed Oct. 4. 1961 a Sheets-Sheet :s

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INVENTOR. HARRY M. GOLLAHON ATTORNEY.

Sept.8, 1964 H. M. GOLLAHON 3,147,930

' PRACTICE cow TEE AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING BALLS THERETO Filed Oct. 4, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG.6

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INVEN 012. HARRY M. GOLL HON ATTORNEY H. M. GOLLAHON' PRACTICE sou" TEE AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING BALLS THERETO Filed Oct. 4. 1961 Sept. 8, 1964 6 Sheets-Sheet 5.

INVENTOR. HARRY M. GOLLAHON v ATTORNEY P 3, 1954 H. M. GOLLAHON 3,147,980

PRACTICE GOLF TEE AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING BALLS THERETO Filed Oct. 4, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTOR. HARRY M. GOLLAHON Munw@%iiiimmh. 9* I %T:Rgf

United States Patent 3,147,980 PRACTICE GOLF TEE AND MEANS FOR DELIVERING BALLS THERETO Harry M. Gollahon, 1520 NE. 47th St., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Filed Oct. 4, 1961, Ser. No. 142,972 6 Claims. (Cl. 273-201) This invention relates to a golf-practising apparatus and more particularly to a device by which successive golf balls will be delivered to a tee within a housing and the golf balls successively raised by the tee to an elevated position externally of the housing where they can be struck off the tee by the club of the golfer.

It is an object of the invention to provide a device of this character which shall be automatic in operation and with which a supply of balls shall be succesively fed from a hopper to a tee which shall bring the successive balls into striking position for the use of the golfer.

It is another object of the invention to provide means which shall automatically provide a substantial number of the golf balls to a golfer and position them on a tee before him to enable the balls to be struck off, the supply of the golf balls and the positioning of them being wholly automatic.

More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of an apparatus in which means is provided to receive balls from a hopper and cause the balls to be directed to a tee, the tee constituting a carrier for the balls and receiving them while in a lowered position and moving the balls upwardly to locate them in a position where they can be struck by the club of the golfer.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in View, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a golfing apparatus constructed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the same;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 33 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 44 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of the tee and parts of the elevating and lowering means therefor;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the apparatus, with portions of the housing shown fragmentarily to disclose the operating mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a sectional View, taken substantially on the line 7-7 of FIG. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 38 of FIG. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 99 of FIG. 5, looking in the direction of the arrows, and

FIG. 10 is a vertical sectional view through the tee.

In the embodiment of the invention as disclosed in the drawings, the operating parts of the device are contained within a casing or housing generally indicated at 1. The same may be made of wood, metal or other suitable material, and it is generally rectangular in shape and includes a pair of L-shaped end walls 2 and 3, front and rear walls respectively shown at 4 and 5, and a bottom wall 6. A top wall 7 is provided on the housing, and mounted on the same is a platform 8, the upper face of which may be colored or otherwise treated to represent 3,147,989 Patented Sept. 8, 1964 a golfing surface. The platform may be made of a size greater than that represented in the drawings to enable a golfer to stand upon it when playing.

Registered apertures 9 and 10 are provided respectively in the platform 8 and top wall 7 and through which a ball-supporting tee 11 is raised or lowered to cause it, when in its raised position (shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8) to hold a golf ball 12 elevated above the top of the platform 8 and present it in a position to be struck by the club of the golfer who can be standing upon the platform. In its lowered position, or that shown in full lines in FIG. 8, the tee 11 receives the ball and then elevates the same to the raised or dotted line position.

The golf balls, which are successively supplied to the tee are placed in the hopper shown at 13, disposed on the top of the housing, which hopper is provided in one of its walls with an outlet slot 14 through which the passage of the balls to reach and fill three grooves 15 is had. The grooves 15 are provided in the upper surface of an extension 16 of the hopper. The hopper 13 and its extension 16 are pivotally mounted in an upper wall 7a of the housing 1 by means of a pin 17 (FIG. 3) which mounting permits pivotal movement of the hopper and its extended portion 16 as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 2 to thereby align any one of the grooves 15 with an aperture 18 formed in one of the walls of a raised chamber 19a on the top of the housing 1. This arrangement is such that successive golf balls will roll down the grooves 15 to pass through the aperture 18 into the interior of the housing to be received by mechanism which successively delivers the balls to the tee 11 for presentation in striking position to the golfer. The grooves 15 are slightly inclined in a direction toward the aperture 18 as will be apparent from FIG. 3, to facilitate the gravitational roll of the balls therein, toward and through the aperture 13. When all of the balls in any one of the grooves 15 have been fed into the apparatus, the housing 13 is then pivotally shifted to align another one of the grooves 15 with aperture 18 and this is repeated until the balls in all of the grooves have been delivered into the apparatus and have been teed off by the golfer.

After each ball passes through the aperture 18 it drops down upon a fixed ball-supporting chute 19 after passing through a guide element or deflector 20 wherein it is halted by the upper end of a pivoted finger 21, pivoted at 22 between the walls of the chute 19. The finger 21 is provided with a projecting tongue 23 having an upturned end on which a ball in the position of that shown at 12a in FIG. 7 rests, and which ball, being the last one of a few balls preceding it, maintains the finger in the full line position shown in FIG. 7 and at which time the end of the finger engages against the ball shown at 1211 and acts to hold back that ball and the remaining balls in the particular groove 15 that is then in alignment with the aperture 18. When the ball 12a is free to move forward or toward the left in FIG. 7, its weight upon the tongue 23 is removed and the finger 21 will swing by gravity to the dotted line position in FIG. 7, permitting another ball to drop down into the chute 19 and replace that which has moved toward the left and toward the position from which it eventually reaches the tee.

Means are provided for successively delivering balls from the chute 19 to a carrier which includes a lever 24, pivotally attached at 25 to the Wall 5 of the housing. Secured at one end of the lever 24 is a balance weight 26 and at its opposite end the lever is provided with a ball-receiving yoke 27. As each ball leaves the chute 19 it rolls to seated position on the yoke 27 and is supported thereby as shown at 12c in FIG. 7. The Weight of the ball at on the lever 24 overcomes the influence of the weight 26 on said lever, and the lever thereupon swings downwardly to the dotted line position of FIG. 7 and delivers the ball carried on the yoke 27 to a lower chute 29 extending transversely of chute 19 for delivery therefrom to the tee 11.

The chute 19 is provided with a yoke member 30, pivoted to the chute at 31, and in its normal position, the yoke member 30 is effective to engage the foremost ball in the chute 19 and prevent it from rolling toward the left as viewed in FIG. 7. After the lever 24 has swung downwardly as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 7, and has delivered a ball into the lower chute 29, and has thus been relieved of the weight of the ball, lever 24 then rises and as it reaches its raised position it brings a projection 32 provided on it, into contact with yoke member 30, swinging the same upwardly to the dotted line position at the top of FIG. 7 and freeing the foremost ball in the chute 19 and allowing the ball to roll onto yoke 27 preparatory to the ball being carried down thereby to the lower chute 29. A bumper 34 is provided on the wall 2 of the housing to aid in positioning each ball on the yoke 27 as the ball rolls toward the same.

As each ball is brought down to the lower chute 29, the ball comes into contact with an angular flange 35 (FIG. 4) at the end of the lower chute 2), which flange elevates the ball out of the yoke 27 and causes the ball to roll down the chute 29 in a direction toward the tee 11. An inclined surface 36 is provided in the chute adjacent to the flange 35 to facilitate the rolling impetus of the ball down the chute and toward the tee.

At the end of the chute 29 the ball is halted by a curved positioning member or deflector 37 in a position where the ball can be picked up by the tee 11 and delivered thereby to the raised position shown in FIG. 4 and as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8. The tee 11 is in the form of a hollow, frustro-conical sleeve which may be made of rubber, of soft plastic or other material unlikely to be damaged when struck by a golf glub. The tee is attached by a screw 39 to a lug 40 formed on a plate 41 and the screw permits vertical adjustment of the tee to a required height. The plate 41 is pivotally mounted at 42 on a lever 43 near one of the ends of the lever, said lever being pivoted at 44 in a bracket 45 attached to the wall 4 of the housing.

The second end of the lever 43 is connected to a link 46 attached to one end of a rocking bar 47, pivoted at 48 to a cross member 49 extending angularly across the housing from the wall 4 to the wall thereof. A weight 50 is adjustably mounted on the bar 47 and is adjustable toward or away from the pivot 48 to secure the required balance. The second end of the bar 47 is attached to one end of a link 51 which is adjustable as to its effective length by means of a turnbuckle 52. By means of the mechanism just described, the two levers 24 and 43 are adjustably coupled together and provide a balanced arrangement in such a manner as to provide for parallel movement of the levers so that when the tee 11 is raised to bring the ball borne by it to striking position above the platform 8, the lever 24 will rise to free a ball from chute 19 for subsequent delivery into the lower chute 19.

Means are provided for holding the tee in a proper lowered position to receive a ball from chute 29, such position of the tee being shown in FIG. 9. It will be therein noted that a latch 53 is provided on the pivot pin 42 and when the tee reaches its lowered position, the hooked end 54 of the latch engages under the end of a flange 55 on an angle strip 56 secured to a wall of the housing. When a ball descends from the chute 29 and seats upon the top of the tee 11, the plate 41 and the latch 53 on the pivot thereof, will be pivotally moved to the position shown in FIG. 8 at which time the latch 53 will become disengaged from flange 55 and the lever 43 will be free to rise and cause the tee 11 to be moved upwardly to ball-striking position above the platform 8. A strap 58 carried by the lever 43 limits the pivotal a movement of the plate 41 in one direction and a roller 59 mounted on the lever 43 restricts the pivotal movement of the plate 41 in the opposite direction.

Pivotally mounted at 60 on a wall of the housing 1 is a dog 61, the pivotal movement thereof being restricted by the two stops 62 and 63. When the lever 43 is in its lowered position, as in FIG. 9, the dog 61 rests against the stop 62. When the lever 43 rises to bring the ball then on the tee 11, to its elevated or striking position above the platform 8, a notch 64 provided at the upper end of the latch 53, will be engaged by the dog 61, which action will tend to slightly pivotally more plate 41 and cause the tee 11 carried by the plate to assume a perpendicular position to hold the ball level upon it.

The operation of the improved golfing device is substantially as follows:

The hopper 13 is filled with golf balls and the balls will pass out of the hopper through the slot 14 to reach and fill the grooves 15. The particular groove 15 that is then aligned with the aperture 18 will permit the flow of its balls through the aperture 18 down into the chute 19, the flow of the balls being restrained by the finger 21 in the manner previously described. On its upward swing, lever 24 will release the end ball into the chute 19, which ball will roll down into the yoke 27. The weight of the ball in the yoke 27 will cause the lever 24 to swing downwardly and it will deliver the ball carried by it into the chute 29, the ball thus delivered rolling down the chute 29 to a position over the then-lowered tee 11. The tee 11, which has been held in lowered position by the engagement of its latch 53 with the flange 55, receives the ball from the chute 29 and the weight of the ball on the top of the tee pivots the plate 41 in a manner to disengage the latch 53 from flange 55, permitting lever 43 to rise due to the balanced arrangement of the linkage, to bring the ball then on the tee to the elevated or striking position above the platform. When the tee rises as just described, the dog 61 will engage the notch 64 and the tee will be levellel off. The roller 59 aids in the levelling off of the tee and limits the pivotal movement of the plate 41.

When the golfer knocks the ball from off the tee 11, the lever 43 will be relieved of the weight of the displaced ball and a ball then on the yoke 27 at the position indicated at 120, will by its weight, cause lever 24 to swing downwardly, and at the same time lever 43 through its linkage connection with lever 24, will also be swung down to its lowered position until the latch 53 engages the flange 55 and holds the lever 43 in such position. The ball which has been delivered into the chute 29 by the downward swing of the lever 24, will then roll down to reach the tee 11 and upon becoming seated thereon will, by its weight, disengage the latch 53 from the flange 55 and permit the upward swing of the lever 43 to raise the tee and the ball carried by it to the elevated or striking position.

When the balls in one of the grooves 15 are depleted, the hopper is then pivotally moved to align another one of the grooves 15 with the aperture 1.8 until the balls in the hopper have all been depleted by having been fed to the apparatus and struck from the tee by the golfer.

The device is completely automatic and requires no effort on the part of the golfer to cause movement of the balls from the hopper to the tee, for as one ball is knocked off the tee it will be automatically replaced by another ball until the supply of balls in the hopper is exhausted.

Having thus described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. A golfing apparatus comprising, a holder for a supply of golf balls, a chute into which the balls are received from the holder, a first pivoted lever, means on the lever for causing the successive feed of the balls from the chute, a ball carrier mounted on the lever and receiving the balls successively from the chute, a second chute, a second pivoted lever disposed in parallel relation to the first lever, a tee connected to the second lever and held thereby in a lowered position to receive successive balls from the second chute, linkage means coupling the first lever to the second lever and effective to cause parallel rising movement of the second lever to elevate the tee when the first lever rises to release a ball from the first chute.

2. A golfing apparatus as provided for in claim 1, including latching means for holding the second lever in a lowered position to permit a ball to be received by the tee from the second chute, and means for causing the freeing of the latch by the reception of a ball on the tee, and teeleveling means operative to level the tee as the tee is elevated to ball-striking position by the rising movement of the second lever.

3. A golfing apparatus comprising a housing, an entrance aperture leading into the interior of the housing, guide means for directing a flow of golf balls from a housing hopper into the interior of the housing, a chute in the housing into which the flow of golf balls is directed, means for successively delivering balls from the chute, a pivoted lever carrying a ball-receiving element at one end and on which the balls are successively received, a second chute disposed transversely of the first chute and to which the balls are successively carried by the swing of said lever, a second lever carrying a pivoted tee at its end and which is positioned at the outlet of the second chute when the second lever is in a lowered position, linkage connecting the two levers and causing them to move in parallelism, balancing weights associated with the linkage and eifective to cause the tee to be elevated to raise a ball above the housing when a ball is received from the first chute by the ball-receiving element at the end of the first lever.

4. A golfing apparatus comprising, a hopper for golf balls, said hopper being mounted on a vertical pivot, an outlet from the hopper from which the balls emerge, a plurality of inclined grooves leading from the outlet, a houshaving an inlet opening, the hopper being swingable about its pivot to register any one of its grooves with the inlet opening to allow balls from said groove to enter therethrough, a fixed chute in the housing below the inlet to receive balls therefrom, a guide element through which the balls pass, a ball-retaining finger mounted on the chute, a yoke on the chute for restraining an end ball in the chute, a pivoted, weighted lever having a ball-carrying loop at one end positioned at the end of the chute when the lever is in a raised position, a second chute disposed at right angles to the first chute and to which successive balls are carried and deposited by the lever on its downward movements, means for elevating each ball out of the loop as the ball reaches the second chute, a second pivoted lever on which a tee is pivotally carried, a latch for holding the tee in a lowered position below an end of the second chute, fixed means engaged by the latch to hold the tee in a lowered position to receive a ball from the second chute, a pivotal mounting for the latch that is caused to release the latch from said fixed means when a ball is brought to rest upon the tee, and leveling means for the tee operative on the tee to level the same when the second lever is pivoted to bring the ball carried by it to striking position by a player.

5. A golfing apparatus comprising, a pivotally-mounted hopper for containing golf balls, said hopper having a plurality of side-by-side ball grooves carried by and leading from it, a housing over which the hopper is mounted, a chute contained in the housing and into which balls are delivered from one or the other of the ball grooves, a pivoted carrier for receiving successive balls from the chute, a second chute into which balls are successively delivered by the carrier, means in the second chute for lifting each ball out of the carrier and causing its deposit in said second chute, a pivotally-mounted tee, linkage connecting the tee to the ball carrier and causing the carrier to be elevated to receive a ball from the first chute, while a ball carried by the tee is raised to a position above the housing.

6. A golfing apparatus comprising, a holder for a supply of balls, a housing over which the holder is mounted, a pair of pivotal, parallel levers in the housing mounted one above the other, an upper chute receiving balls from the holder, 21 ball carrier borne by the upper lever and receiving successive balls from the upper chute, a lower chute receiving balls from the ball carrier upon the descent of the upper lever, a tee carried by the lower lever, the levers being coupled together by linkage and being arranged to move upwardly in parallelism, and on such upward movement to obtain a ball from the upper chute While bringing a ball carried by the tee to an elevated position for striking by a player.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,212,877 Gale Aug. 27, 1940 2,216,853 Middleton Oct. 8, 1940 2,295,599 Mozel Sept. 15, 1942 2,390,998 Gale Dec. 18, 1945 2,711,321 McGraw June 21, 1955 

1. A GOLFING APPARATUS COMPRISING, A HOLDER FOR A SUPPLY OF GOLF BALLS, A CHUTE INTO WHICH THE BALLS ARE RECEIVED FROM THE HOLDER, A FIRST PIVOTED LEVER, MEANS ON THE LEVER FOR CAUSING THE SUCCESSIVE FEED OF THE BALLS FROM THE CHUTE, A BALL CARRIER MOUNTED ON THE LEVER AND RECEIVING THE BALLS SUCCESSIVELY FROM THE CHUTE, A SECOND CHUTE, A SECOND PIVOTED LEVER DISPOSED IN PARALLEL RELATION TO THE FIRST LEVER, A TEE CONNECTED TO THE SECOND LEVER AND HELD THEREBY IN A LOWERED POSITION TO RECEIVE SUCCESSIVE BALLS FROM THE SECOND CHUTE, LINKAGE MEANS COUPLING THE FIRST LEVER TO THE SECOND LEVER AND EFFECTIVE TO CAUSE PARALLEL RISING MOVEMENT OF THE SECOND LEVER TO ELEVATE THE TEE WHEN THE FIRST LEVER RISES TO RELEASE A BALL FROM THE FIRST CHUTE. 